Managing and moving file locations

[David Pollock]

I want to be sure I don't mess things up, or lose content, when I change computers soon. Currently, my cwp files and other system files are on my C hard drive. Exported audio files are in Dropbox. And my pretty large samples files are on a second internal hard drive. I suppose I can just backup every cw-related file I can find, and then try to restore them on the new machine in the same location, but something tells me I'm not going about this the smartest way. Maybe this is obvious, but not to me at the moment. Any suggestions on the best way to go about this?

[scook]

Re-install anything that uses an installer. Do not copy files if the files were placed on the machine by an installer.

If there are products involved who's manufacturer track installs such as Melodyne, Additive Drums or machine based iLok licenses follow the manufacturers guidelines on removing the licenses off the current machine (assuming they will no longer be needed there).

If there are legacy Cakewalk products involved, start reading here

Then copy projects, videos and audio any outside of the project folders.

 

[David Pollock]

Thanks. It's going to be more complicated than I had hoped apparently and that I will likely lose some older plugins or instruments. That sucks.

[scook]

2 hours ago, David Pollock said:

I will likely lose some older plugins or instruments.

It depends. One reason for running installers is some plug-ins create registry entries. The does not happen when copying files from one machine to another.

 

Some installers are more basic just providing a front end to what is essentially a copy process. These plug-ins may be copied.

 

If the issue is legacy Cakewalk products, AFAIK most everything from late 2011 forward has a downloadable installer.

The catch is in late 2014 the Cakewalk changed their login process requiring everyone to create a new account as part of the migration process. BandLab has the Cakewalk account database from 2014 though 2017 and will restore access those having trouble getting to their accounts. Unfortunately, failing to participate in the account migration during 2014-2017 time frame resulted in prior purchase activity being lost to history.

[David Pollock]

Man, I'm not sure if I'm in that list or not. It's going to be really annoying if I'm not. I've been a Cakewalk user since DOS days (look it up youngsters) and paid for the supposedly lifetime updates from Cakewalk toward the end.

Thanks scook.

[scook]

Purchasing SONAR with lifetime updates required an account created in 2014-2017.

If you forgot your password, support@cakewalk.com can help.

All of your X-series purchases should be available for download. The full installers should be there.

You may have the SONAR 8.5 upgrade download too but it requires SONAR 8 disks as the download version was not the full product.

SONAR 8 and older have no downloadable installers.

The Cakewalk products need to be installed, copy won't cut it. It is possible to copy Dimension Pro, Rapture and other sfz engine synth sample libraries and programs but the synths must be installed using the installers.

For SONAR products that can install through Cakewalk Command Center (such as the SONAR with lifetime updates) do so. It makes activation easier. The command center uses the same login as your account.

The good news is it is not necessary to install everything at once. Unless you need all the historical stuff immediately.

The link in my first post above provides the install sequence for the stuff that should be installed and other useful tips.

After that, the rest may be installed as needed.

 

[John Vere]

Last time I had to re do from scratch, about a year ago, it was not that big a deal. It's time consuming but I work on my laptop while the other computer is busy doing it's thing. 

First I had saved my Command Center download folder which had the majority of my plug in executables from the Sonar days stored. 

We all talked about this at length on the old forum when Gibson pulled the plug. Back it up and make sure to have a document that has all your serials and activation codes stored safely as well. We were also given activations for 3rd party software thanks to those vendors who stepped up to the plate back than. Not sure if they still honor this but companies like Overloud emailed me lifetime activation codes after I emailed the request including a screen shot of my Sonar "about" screen with the serial number. If you haven't yet done this look into it. I bet they will still honour it.  

So everything from that Splat Command center era is safely backed up to multiple external hard drives.

All pre command center Sonar software I have digital copies and the serials and activations codes for. They do not need on line activation. This stopped at X3 

So to rebuild

I copy  all the executable files and DAW related stuff to a DATA drive on the new machine.  This also includes CWP folders. 

I first installed the drivers for my 2 Audio interfaces and midi controllers. Sonar/ Cakewalk seems to like to see this stuff when it comes alive. 

I then installed 8.5 64 bit bare bones just to get the few things like true piano's and V Vocal. 

I Then I install command Center.  But hold on, don't run it yet. 

Now I copy all the files from my back up hard drive to the newly created Command Center Download folder.  C/ Program Data/Cakewalk/Command Center/Downloads 

Now when I run Command center all the software installs real fast because it doesn't have to re download.  

Once Sonar Platinum  is up and running with all those great goodies  I then install the Bandlab Assistant and  Bandlabs Cakewalk. 

I then install my collection of 3rd party VST's most of which go to my Steinberg VST folder.   

[lapasoa]

The same exact process I did.

[cwiggins999]

This thread was VERY helpful to me as I move to a new PC. I was able to install Command Center and then install Sonar Platinum and all of the add-ons I was entitled to, then Cakewalk seems to recognize most of those (probably will find something missing as I proceed). The one noticeable thing so far is that in both Sonar Platinum and Cakewalk, Dimension Pro is not visible as a software instrument - doesn't show in any of the categories. It does show as an effect if I look at plugins available to the FX rack. The standalone DPro does load, and I've verified that the DPro directory is in my C:\Program Files\Cakewalk\VstPlugins directory with all the others. Anyone else seen this problem or have any suggestions?

[John Vere]

Dim pro should show in the plg in manager under VST instruments , this is the pathway I have. 

c:\program files\cakewalk\vstplugins\Dimension Pro\Dimension Pro x64.dll

 

[cwiggins999]

I have it in that location, but it's not showing up in the Plugin Manager under VST Instruments. I even tried explicitly adding that specific path to the VST config. However, as you see below, it is showing up in the VST Audio Effects category. Strange...

 

[scook]

The scanner failed to classify the plug-in properly.

Run a VST reset from preferences.

 

[cwiggins999]

That's it! Thanks much. I didn't know about that option but works great now.